Unscramble the Blue Letters

In sports where height is piezrd, like basketball, the tall athletes got taller. In 1983, the National Basketball Association signed a groundbreaking agreement minakg players partners in the leugae, eteilntd to shares of ticket reneuevs and television caottnrcs. Suddenly, anybody who could be an NBA player wanted to be, and teams sraettd scouring the globe for the bodies that could help them win coppaimihsnhs. Almost overnight, the proportion of men in the NBA who are at least seven feet tall doubled to 10 percent. taody, one in 10 men in the NBA is at least seven feet tall, but a seven-foot-tall man is incredibly rare in the general population — so rare that if you know an American man between the ages of 20 and 40 who is at least seven feet tall, there's a 17 pecrent chance he's in the NBA right now. (Laughter) That is, find six honest seven footers, one is in the NBA right now. And that's not the only way that NBA players' bodies are unuiqe. This is Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man," the ideal ptonoirrpos, with arm span equal to heghit. My arm span is exactly equal to my height. Yours is probably very nearly so. But not the average NBA player. The average NBA player is a shade under 6'7", with arms that are seven feet long. Not only are NBA praleys ridiculously tall, they are ludicrously long. Had Leonardo wanted to draw the vtvariiun NBA Player, he would have needed a rectangle and an ellipse, not a circle and a square.

Open Cloze

In sports where height is ______, like basketball, the tall athletes got taller. In 1983, the National Basketball Association signed a groundbreaking agreement ______ players partners in the ______, ________ to shares of ticket ________ and television _________. Suddenly, anybody who could be an NBA player wanted to be, and teams _______ scouring the globe for the bodies that could help them win _____________. Almost overnight, the proportion of men in the NBA who are at least seven feet tall doubled to 10 percent. _____, one in 10 men in the NBA is at least seven feet tall, but a seven-foot-tall man is incredibly rare in the general population — so rare that if you know an American man between the ages of 20 and 40 who is at least seven feet tall, there's a 17 _______ chance he's in the NBA right now. (Laughter) That is, find six honest seven footers, one is in the NBA right now. And that's not the only way that NBA players' bodies are ______. This is Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man," the ideal ___________, with arm span equal to ______. My arm span is exactly equal to my height. Yours is probably very nearly so. But not the average NBA player. The average NBA player is a shade under 6'7", with arms that are seven feet long. Not only are NBA _______ ridiculously tall, they are ludicrously long. Had Leonardo wanted to draw the _________ NBA Player, he would have needed a rectangle and an ellipse, not a circle and a square.

Solution

vitruvian

entitled

unique

prized

contracts

players

percent

championships

revenues

making

league

started

height

today

proportions

Original Text

In sports where height is prized, like basketball, the tall athletes got taller. In 1983, the National Basketball Association signed a groundbreaking agreement making players partners in the league, entitled to shares of ticket revenues and television contracts. Suddenly, anybody who could be an NBA player wanted to be, and teams started scouring the globe for the bodies that could help them win championships. Almost overnight, the proportion of men in the NBA who are at least seven feet tall doubled to 10 percent. Today, one in 10 men in the NBA is at least seven feet tall, but a seven-foot-tall man is incredibly rare in the general population — so rare that if you know an American man between the ages of 20 and 40 who is at least seven feet tall, there's a 17 percent chance he's in the NBA right now. (Laughter) That is, find six honest seven footers, one is in the NBA right now. And that's not the only way that NBA players' bodies are unique. This is Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man," the ideal proportions, with arm span equal to height. My arm span is exactly equal to my height. Yours is probably very nearly so. But not the average NBA player. The average NBA player is a shade under 6'7", with arms that are seven feet long. Not only are NBA players ridiculously tall, they are ludicrously long. Had Leonardo wanted to draw the Vitruvian NBA Player, he would have needed a rectangle and an ellipse, not a circle and a square.